edwards

CJUS 740

Discussion Assignment Instructions

The student will complete 5 Discussions in this course. The student will post one thread of 500-700 words by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Thursday of the assigned Module: Week. The student must then post 2 replies of 200-300 words by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of the assigned Module: Week. For each thread, students must support their assertions with at least 4 scholarly citations in APA format. Each reply must incorporate at least 2 scholarly citations in APA format. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. The original thread must incorporate ideas and several scholarly citations from all of the Learn materials for that Module: Week. The reply posts can integrate ideas and citations from the Learn materials for other Modules: Weeks. Integrate Biblical principles in your personal thread and in all replies to peers.

Discussion Thread: Scientific Inquiry

Case Study Arrest and Domestic Violence

In 1983, preliminary results were released from a study on the  deterrent effects of arrest in cases of domestic violence. The study  reported that male abusers who were arrested were less likely to commit  future assaults than offenders who were not arrested. Conducted by  researchers from the Police Foundation, the study used rigorous  experimental methods adapted from the natural sciences. Criminal justice  scholars generally agreed that the research was well designed and  executed. Public officials were quick to embrace the study’s findings  that arresting domestic violence offenders deterred them from future  violence.

Here, at last, was empirical evidence to support an effective policy  in combating domestic assaults. Results of the Minneapolis Domestic  Violence Experiment were widely disseminated, in part due to aggressive  efforts by the researchers to publicize their findings (Sherman and  Cohn, 1989). The attorney general of the United States recommended that  police departments make arrests in all cases of misdemeanor domestic  violence. Within five years, more than 80 percent of law enforcement  agencies in U.S. cities adopted arrest as the preferred way of  responding to domestic assaults (Sherman, 1992:2).

Several things contributed to the rapid adoption of arrest policies  to deter domestic violence. First, the experimental study was conducted  carefully by highly respected researchers. Second, results were widely  publicized in newspapers, in professional journals, and on television  programs. Third, officials could understand the study, and most believed  that its findings made sense. Finally, mandating arrest in less serious  cases of domestic violence was a straightforward and politically  attractive approach to a growing problem.

Sherman and Berk (1984), however, urged caution in uncritically  embracing the results of their study. Others advised that similar  research be conducted in other cities to check the Minneapolis findings  (Lempert, 1984). Recognizing this, the U.S. National Institute of  Justice sponsored more experiments—known as replications—in six other  cities. Not everyone was happy about the new studies. For example, an  advocacy group in Milwaukee opposed the replication in that city because  it believed that the effectiveness of arrest had already been proved  (Sherman and Cohn, 1989:138).

Results from the replication studies brought into question the  effectiveness of arrest policies. In three cities, no deterrent effect  was found in police records of domestic violence. In other cities, there  was no evidence of deterrence for longer periods (6–12 months), and in  three cities, researchers found that violence actually escalated when  offenders were arrested (Sherman, 1992:30). For example, Sherman and  associates (1992:167) report that in Milwaukee “the initial deterrent  effects observed for up to thirty days quickly disappear. By one year  later [arrests] produce an escalation effect.” Arrest works in some  cases but not in others. As in many other cases, in responding to  domestic assaults, it’s important to carefully consider the  characteristics of offenders and the nature of the relationship between  offender and victim.

After police departments throughout the country embraced arrest  policies following the Minneapolis study, researchers were faced with  the difficult task of explaining why initial results must be qualified.  Arrest seemed to make sense; officials and the general public believed  what they read in the papers and saw on television. Changing their minds  by reporting complex findings was more difficult but continues to be  important. Long-term follow-up studies have found that arrested  offenders were more likely to be victims of homicide (Sherman and  Harris, 2013). Even more sobering, domestic violence victims of arrested  offenders were more likely than victims of nonarrested offenders to  have died within 23 years of the experiment (Sherman and Harris, 2015).

Critical Thinking

1. What was your first reaction to reading this case study? Did you  know about the contradictory findings regarding the use of arrest in  incidences of domestic violence?

2. Can you think of other topics or claims that you think criminal  justice researchers should revisit? What other common practices that are  seen as absolutely true should researchers reevaluate?